Membership of the Union Explained

Life Membership Shop Image

To become a member of a Club, Society or Project you must first be a member of Imperial College Union - this can be as a Full Member, Associate Member or Life Member.

All registered students of Imperial College are automatically Full Members of the Union - this is both undergraduates and postgraduates. Only Full Members of Imperial College Union may participate in the government of the Union which includes Clubs, Societies & Projects. To be a voting member of a committee you must be a Full Member.

Associate Membership

Other Further or Higher Education students, as well as members of Imperial College staff can purchase Associate Membership of the Union. Associate membership can be purchased from Union Reception and is priced at £4/month. A special rates for Associate Membership at £5 per academic year is available for students of the Royal College of Music and the Royal College of Art. Application for Associate Membership should be made using one of the forms below.

Imperial College Staff (65 KB)
RCA & RCM Associate Members Application Form (72 KB)
Other Further & Higher Education Students (71 KB)

Certain local Universities purchase Associate Membership in bulk for their students, and Associate Membership cards should be collected from the contacts below:

Boston University - Mona Patel
Richmond University - Katherine Lytle
CAPA - Alex Paxton
FIE - Katie Hignett
Wisconsin University - Britt Lonsdale

Life Membership

Life membership may be purchased if a person has been:

• A Full or Associate Member of the Union for at least one academic year,
• A Research or Teaching Assistant for at least two academic years,
• A member of the full time Union staff for at least two years, or
• A member of the Imperial College staff for at least two years.

Life membership costs £50 for life and may be purchased online.

For new members of Imperial College staff, they should purchase Associate Membership for a year, at which point they are then able to become a Life Member.

Important Information

As an Associate or Life Member of the Union people are welcome to participate in the activities of Clubs, Societies and Projects, however, they will not be able to participate in many activities which are representing the College. This particularly applies to Sporting Competitions - Life and Associate members cannot play in teams or enter competitions as a representative of Imperial College in BUCS or ULU sporting endeavors.

Associate or Life Membership of Imperial College Union is not required to join the College's Sports Centre, Ethos. Ethos run a separate membership scheme for those who are not Imperial College students or staff members, details are available online. Associate or Life Membership of Imperial College Union is required before joining a Club which uses the facilities at Ethos for their Club sessions. Entry to Ethos for those this applies to will be restricted to Club sessions only and does not entitle the individuals to use the general facilities at the centre such as the Gym.

Joining Clubs, Societies & Projects

If a Life or Associate member does not have an Imperial user account (this will apply to students from other Universities such as Heythrop, Royal College of Art and Royal College of Music) then the Union will need to set them up with a suitable user account. If they wish to join a Club, Society or Project they should email unionwebhelp@imperial.ac.uk whereupon they will be given a College CID number. They will then be able to login using this CID number as their login, and their date of birth in the format DDMMYYYY as the password. This process make take up to two weeks.

The Union website has the ability for anyone to create a user account. These accounts do not allow for the purchase of membership to a Club, Society or Project.